Sushi Loku

The first thing I noticed was the filth. The Windows look like they’ve been cleaned with dirty puddle water by a child wearing a blindfold. Bits of old dried food in the window were an added bonus.
The simple tofu teriyaki on rice was in a word… oily. The tofu was mushy, not crispy. The batter should be crispy, no?
My friend got chicken karage. It was deep fried chicken wings. And they were mediocre. How can anything deep fried not be delicious? HOW?
Never coming here again.

A Korean-​operated Sushi place for non-​Japanese people.

Stopped in for a random week night dinner and enjoyed most of our food. We all kinda felt like the portions were small and all left still sorta hungry. The oshi sushi was good, but felt like it was cold from sitting out waiting to be served. The rolls were good, but there was maybe 6 small pieces of each per order. After going to Green Leaf a few nights before, Sushi Loku was just okay in comparison. It’s a good spot with nice rolls and oshi sushi, just felt like there should’ve been a few more pieces per order and nothing was really remarkable.

We went to this restaurant based on the recommendation of friends. It was a Friday night and very busy. The new waitress told the 2 of us that it would be a 25 minute wait but started to let people coming in after us a seating. When I complained, she got defensive and said that you didn’t sign in! What terrible service and a bad impression! I immediately asked for the manager and she said that he’s not working tonight. The other waitress simply said that she’s new as I angrily walked out! Highly not recommended for bad service!

Hands down one of our new favourite spots for sushi. We ended up here after a proximity search when running some errands and saw the great Unilocal reviews-​we were not disappointed. The service was friendly and prompt and the food was wonderful. We may have over ordered but we wanted to try so many things especially being our first time. We ended up getting the pork Gyoza, salmon and spicy tuna oburi (torched box sushi) and LOVED both, but particularly the Salmon one. We also ordered 3 other specialty rolls (see pictures) that we’re all delicious as well. Highly recommend this spot if you are in the area.

I saw Sushi Loku on my drive back home from Ajisai (sushi is gr8). I looked it up on Unilocal and I knew I had to go!
So fast forward two weeks and my friend and I stopped by for some sushi.
I thought Sushi Loku was run by Japanese folks but they are actually Korean.
I was actually really impressed with Sushi Loku. I don’t really like eating in Korean ran sushi restaurants because they are more about the quantity rather than the quality, but Sushi Loku is pretty good on that. Despite the extensive menu, every dish ordered was pretty good. The oshizushi was yummy and decently priced.
The inside of the place is REALLY cute. It’s different from your average sushi restaurant, almost gives off a Europeany vibe. We ate super comfortably and the service was quite good as well.
I will definitely be coming back, almost had my birthday dinner here before deciding upon someplace a little fancier.
The only downside to our visit was the Okonomiyaki. It wasn’t very good. Finding good Okonomiyaki is always a struggle…

With all these stellar reviews, I picked this restaurant for a family dinner, but too bad it didn’t live up to the hype. I felt that they were trying to be sneaky with some things, and some of the things we ordered were pretty poor for the price you pay.
We ordered the assorted 8 piece aburi sushi, and it clearly listed the 8 types of fish. When we got it, the tako was subbed out and replaced with avocado. If you’re charging me $ 15 for 8 assorted fish nigiri, they’d better be all fish. I asked the server about it, and she came back saying I should have specified what I wanted because it’s chefs choice. It didn’t say anything about chefs choice, but she kept telling me I should have specified. I told her all my pieces should be fish, because that’s what is advertised. She went back to the chef, and she came back again, saying that it’s chefs choice. Wtf! I pointed to her in the menu, nowhere does it say chefs choice, it tells you exactly what we are supposed to get! Anyhow she finally got me the proper piece.
Also, the 11 piece assorted tempura for $ 12 includes 2 pieces of prawn, which seems pretty ridiculous. The 7 piece yam and veggie tempura is $ 6, so $ 12 for 2 prawn and 9 veggie doesn’t make sense to me.
Aside from that, the meal was ok. Oshisushi, while cheaper, isn’t comparable to kishimoto or miku. I find that in general, their fish is cut really thinly, and not a consistent thickness. The spicy salmon sashimi was really poor value, super tiny portion. The special rolls were pretty tiny as well. The okonomiyaki isn’t anything to rave about either, batter was super mushy. Overall, the taste is fine, some items were significantly smaller than expected (spicy sashimi, special rolls), but I really didn’t like what happened with the aburi nigiri, I felt they were trying to cheat the customers out of what they are supposed to get.
I don’t have a reason to come back here, with so much sushi choice in Vancouver.

I stopped at Sushi Loku today for my weekly sushi fix. I was at work, and I usually try not to test new places while working because time is never on my side. As it would happen, I had to ask them to put a rush on my 25 minute order. 7 minutes later it came out! I happily paid a 20% tip and dashed to my vehicle.
I ordered the sushi and nigiri combo for $ 9.98. It came with tuna, salmon, snapper, ebi, and scallop nigiri and a roll of tuna (you have the choice of salmon as well). When I was looking at their menu and pictures on Unilocal,I noticed that their sushi looked artfully prepared. For a rush take out order, they didn’t cut any corners! Picture included.
Everything was fresh, well prepared and delicious! They included wild salmon which was a brilliant deep red, almost too nice to eat. The scallop was also a highlight for me. Dressed in what I think is a japanese mayo dressing it looked amazing and tasted even better. This is probably the best value and quality nigiri combo I have purchased in Vancouver. I don’t know if I will come in from burnaby to eat here, but if I am in the vicinity, I will be placing this sushi ya near the top of my list!
For those eating in, the décor looked comfy and clean.

Went for dinner here last night, it was some of the best sushi I’ve had in the city, on par with Kishimoto and Minami. Very unassuming too, and reasonable prices.

I really like the sushi rolls here. The food is appealing to the eye and they have a huge menu with so many different rolls! My favourite is the ocean roll — no rice or seaweed and instead wrapped in a rice paper roll. It’s delicious! My friends and family love this place.
To me, the place feels like a dungeon. The walls are dark, the lighting is dim, and the décor is very chilling. I don’t know if that’s the feel they are trying to do but it’s definitely not a place that I would like to order a drink after my meal and sit there to talk with friends.

Really enjoyed their aburi set (8 pieces) and oishi sushi (salmon and negitoro). The other special roll we got was just mediocre. Surprised it wasn’t too busy for dinner, but we did go on a Tuesday evening. They even gave my boyfriend and I two tables because we had so many plates of sushi — so that was nice of them. Would come back to try their avocado oishi next time!
Pricing was reasonable, cheaper than Miku and Minami. But I think their oishi sushi was comparable! Would go back

Awesome Sushi place! the restaurant is neat n clean! Reasonable pricing. I ordered salmon don… delicious! will come again… if you have not try it yet, find a day to ;D

Delicious food! I went here with my boyfriend and it was our second time here (first time was when it first opened). I’m glad to say that the quality of food has been on point since!
We ordered the beef sukiyaki don, tuna tataki roll, dynamite roll, and salmon sashimi. All our food arrive very quickly, and surprisingly the beef sukiyaki don, which we never tried before, won us over.
Tl;dr: eat here, you won’t regret it! :)

We decided to give this place a try, given the generally positive reviews on the various sites.
Environment: a casual, coffee bar (especially Bean Around the World locations on West 10^th) type of vibe and feel. Clean and functional, but not their number one priority… nor should it be, as the food should be the star of any establishment (IMHO).
Food: Plating and presentation of the food was serviceable… not jaw-​dropping, but neither was it just thrown on the plate with the makis coming apart. The fish was fresh, and the sushi chefs knew what they were doing, however, the rice was oddly hard (almost al dente) and the nori a tad chewy, which suggests either a stale product or one that has not been stored properly. A pleasant surprise was that they served aburi style, so we ordered the salmon oshi sushi… it was ok, but does not compare to either Kishimoto nor Miku/​Miname.
Service: The waitress was a tad cold and unfriendly from the initial sit-​down until we got up to leave, then her tune changed dramatically… with a big smile and thank you. I found that a bit off-​putting, but we did not let it distract too much from our enjoyment of the meal.
Would I return. with the proliferation of sushi restaurants in the GVRD, I would say that as a destination point, I would opt for some other establishment. However, were I to find myself in the area, and wanted some decent sushi at a good price, I would come back.

Came here a while back to get some cucumber and avocado roll. Things were really really slow in service for take out and there was barely anyone in the eatery, therefore, no tip but the sushi was decent.

Don’t get me wrong, the food’s still great, just the service, and more directed at the owner.
For the 1^st time, we ate inside instead of doing dine out, and only 1 server for 10 tables? One table was a party of 10, we were 4, and a few more 3’s. Felt bad for the server, she finally got us tea on our 3^rd request.
And the other ‘half server’ was busying doing takeouts and ringing in the orders.
Ordered the assorted sashimi, good variety but for $ 6, I’ll go for the Deluxe, looked a lot better and more too.

So, we love sushi. We aren’t fancy sushi people, for sure. Having never been to Japan I can’t say about the authenticity of really any place. We have eaten sushi lots of places across the States and rarely care for the mainstream or more fancy places, to the point we avoid them. We have had sushi at places that the Japanese staff can barely manage English and places that have sushi chefs of other nationaliites. I say we balance amazingness and price with a focus on the former. I wouldn’t say that Loku has a large selection of amazing rolls, but they have great prices for very good and great rolls. They also have good other non sushi options.
We enjoyed several of the rolls that were different than ones we had tried elsewhere and how likely we would be to get them in Japan, I don’t care. Kind of like mexican, it can be great mexican food without being a perfect translation of what one would receive south of the US border — fine with me. However, I have eaten at many quite americanized sushi places and I would not at all categorize this as those places to which I won’t return.
We were up from WA for the weekend — Sushi Loku was within walking distance from our hotel so we ate Sat din there; and when searching for somewhere to eat in Gas Town on Sunday, we were unimpressed so we returned to Sushi Loku.
Our new favorite place. DH suggested we return to BC just to go there :-)

A friend suggested and recommended this place and it’s difficult to find an authentic Japanese restaurant that’s open on Sundays (it tends to be tradition to be closed on Sunday and Mondays in Japan). The interior decors are rustic, dim lit, café because it used to be… a café. The staff are Korean and my experience with Korean run Japanese restaurants are mediocre, not good not bad but edible. This particular venue’s menu leans towards tapas style, very well presented for the price, portions are decent but quality of Japanese food isn’t really there. It is just clean and fresh enough to be eaten.
The chopped scallop roll, and two other rolls we ordered were rather «flat» the roll wasn’t rolled tight enough, partially because there weren’t enough filling to create the bulk, biting in a piece felt like it was partially empty. The seaweed was very hydrated making for a chewing sensation undesirable in sushi.
Ebi mayo was more like a honey glazed dish unlike any Ebi Mayo I’d had in Japan. Tempura was crispy but wasn’t very fluffy, the shrimp were on the small side. Like Sushi Garden (a place I dislike but is very popular) this restaurant could be liked but a good Japanese restaurant I cannot recommend.

Went here for a quick takeout for my lunch at work. I regret going for takeout and should’ve have stayed. The interior is really nice and the establishment is Air Conditioned which is great when enjoying sushi on a hot sunny day! 1 less star because the waitress seems to sometimes forget putting soy sauce when I do take-​outs lol.
I ate the Kamikaze Roll, Asian Tuna Tacos, Lava Roll, Crispy Go Go Roll, Cool boy Roll. My favorites are the Asian Tuna Taco and Kamikaze Roll. Most of their rolls have heavy sauces, although delicious, but I enjoy my sushi dry (Kamikaze Roll) with lesser sauces as I like dipping them in Soy Wasabi sauce.

I’ve been a staunch supporter of Sushi Loku from the beginning, however now my opinion has changed, based on their customer service.
This evening I placed an order for take-​out and I ordered 2 avocado-​cucumber roll’s and a lady mango roll, and a miso soup. When I got home, I happily drank my miso soup, let that digest a moment and then went to plate up my rolls, when to my surprise I found 2 salmon and avocado rolls, not avocado cucumber rolls. I was super disappointed because I don’t eat salmon, therefore I was not interested in just sucking it up and eating the rolls anyways.
I called and told them about the error, and was told to bring it back, and they would make me two avocado-​cucumber rolls. My boyfriend went in place of me, and he was told that we would have to pay for the rolls because apparently it was MY mistake, and that I ordered the salmon. (MY mistake? Cucumber and salmon sound nothing alike… do they?!) My boyfriend had to argue with them saying that I wouldn’t have ordered that, and eventually they gave it to him free of charge.
In my opinion that was crappy customer service, and because of that I will not be going back. Too back Sushi Loku, we had a good thing going… considering I ordered from you on a weekly basis.
(oh, and you Really should get an email address so customers could contact you directly rather than having to complain on Unilocal…)